Picture perfect: 10 tips for taking great photos

High quality photographs can help nonprofit organizations bring their stories to life in a way that engages supporters, builds relationships and improves lives. But sourcing great photos can be challenging. Few nonprofits have professional photographers on staff or dedicated budgets...

Fundraising Q&A: What should I include in my annual report?

What should I include in our charity's annual report? While the name "annual report" seems self-explanatory, let me just clarify. Corporations (for-profit businesses) need to report to their shareholders annually and outline the preceding year's activities, whereas Canadian charities don't...

Ten keys to working with corporations – without selling your soul

The idea of seeking corporate support for your nonprofit sometimes incites a crisis of confidence or a crisis of conscience. "Nonprofits often don't approach corporations because they're afraid they can't. Or they worry that if they do get the support,...

Seven ideas to engage prospects

Providing prospects with a wide variety of engagement opportunities is critical to stemming leaks once they reach the cultivation stage of the development cycle. Here is a summary of some broad themes as well as some concrete examples of engagement...

Five characteristics of a healthy prospect pipeline

Ask any good fundraiser why it is important for an organization to maintain a healthy pipeline of prospects and they will basically give you the same answer. While the words may be different, the key theme is that as a...

Innovation meets tradition: The 2011 Humber Initiative on Philanthropy

The recent Humber Initiative on Philanthropy conference at the college's Lakeshore Campus was an intensive day filled with informative sessions and thought-provoking speakers. The brainchild of the sector's prolific enthusiast, Ken Wyman, the annual event was launched two years ago...

Benchmark study shows online’s strength

Web-based fundraising is coming of age. That's the conclusion of the 2011 Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark™ Study, which evaluated the results of nearly 600 nonprofit organizations that use Convio's software. The study, released in early March, found that online...

Fundraising Q&A: How effective are your special events?

Our charity spends a lot of time and energy on special events that don't raise much money. How do we assess their effectiveness? Considering how exhausting special events can be, it's a good plan to evaluate your efforts. Generally speaking,...

Downgrading: When asking for less gets you more

For years some of my colleagues and I have been banging on about the need to seriously consider actively downgrading regular, monthly donors. Are you going mad, Jonathon? Possibly, but not on this one. The rationale is simple. There are...

Achieving dramatic outcomes without core government funding at Alice Housing

Alice Housing provides safe second-stage housing and supportive counselling for women and children leaving domestic violence. Established in 1983 and located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, it's the largest second-stage housing organization east of Quebec, offering 19 safe housing units and...